Metro

CITY/COUNTY DIGEST

News from around the Baltimore region

Two cars in an apparent race on the inner loop of the Baltimore Beltway crashed into each other early yesterday, killing one of the drivers, state police said.

The cars - both Hondas - were eastbound near the Perring Parkway exit about 2 a.m. when the drivers, "apparently participating in a speed contest," swerved to avoid a Kawasaki motorcycle and struck each other, said Trooper Troy Robinson of the Golden Ring barracks.

After the impact, one of the cars ran off the right side of the road, hit a tree and overturned, killing the driver, while the other hit a concrete jersey barrier to the left. The second driver and passengers from each vehicle were hospitalized, Robinson said.

The motorcyclist, Alexander M. Brown, 30, of Nottingham, Baltimore County, lost control of the bike as the cars passed but was not injured, according to Robinson.

Pronounced dead at the scene was the driver of a 1994 Honda, Darrell C. Hill, 20, of the 100 block of Still Meadow Drive in Joppa.

Phil H. Seo, 23, of Revere Court in Parkville, identified by police as the driver of the second car, a 1996 Honda, was treated at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. Two passengers in Seo's car also were injured: Anawda L. Mitteckamp, 15, of Quail Ridge Drive in Parkville, who was treated at Bayview, and Robert E. Smith, 16, of Tree Way Court in Pikesville, who was treated at Shock Trauma, Robinson said.

The accident closed the inner loop section of the Beltway for about three hours as the injured were removed by helicopter and ambulances, and investigators worked, the trooper said.